


When I Marry

by RobberBaroness



Category: Sweeney Todd - Sondheim/Wheeler
Genre: Community: 10_quotes, F/M, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-28
Updated: 2013-02-28
Packaged: 2017-12-03 21:32:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/702850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobberBaroness/pseuds/RobberBaroness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Toby asks if she enjoyed being married, Mrs. Lovett finds the answer isn't simple- and that there's a question she would rather be asked.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When I Marry

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the livejournal community 10_quotes- the prompt was a line from Gone With the Wind. As in the revival setting, Toby is in his teens.

"Did you like being married, Mum?"

Mrs. Lovett stopped her knitting to look at Toby. It had been some time since she'd thought about Albert, and even then it was always to compare him to Mr. Todd. The marriage itself had been simply a part of her life long since passed, the means by which she'd once kept herself alive, not something to reminisce about fondly.

"Sometimes. I had a good enough husband- much luckier than most girls."

Toby moved closer to her, his eyes wider than she could recall seeing them.

"Tell me about him, then."

"Why so curious? You want to learn how to be a good husband?"

He had been good. He'd made pleasant company, given her the pie shop, and taken her in as a wife without expecting blood on the sheets the next morning. He only bothered her about trying for a child once or twice a year, content to let her wifely duties end at food and conversation. The only times she'd minded him were when she would come home late, her clothing rumpled, and he would look at her so sadly it made her want to throw something at him. No grown man should look at her with eyes like a child.

The way Toby was looking at her now.

"You see, Toby dear, I'd had a few gentleman friends before him, and they weren't always very good to me."

And that was also true. She still had scars from one young tough, the one it had been hardest to leave.

"My own mother found me Albert- he wanted a good cook, and he was willing to...to let me have a little fun."

Toby looked almost distressed at that. Mrs. Lovett knew he'd grown fond of her, and had to admit it was a bit flattering to have her every tale of woe responded to with such concern.

"Shouldn't it have been fun just to be married?"

She laughed and tousled his hair. Oh, to be young enough to ask that question...

"Perhaps it's fun for men! I'm sure you'll have fun when you find a wife."

Albert hadn't formally proposed to her. It had been an offer to her mother, to whom Mrs. Lovett had given her consent. She hadn't been asked to wed any of her street toughs, and lord only knew when Mr. Todd would get around to it. He would have to, sooner or later, but it seemed later was more likely.

"I would want her to have fun, too," whispered Toby. And then, on an impulse, he blurted out "Will you-"

He seemed to bite his tongue before finishing his sentence, and despite herself, Mrs. Lovett felt herself holding her breath. She'd turn him down gently, of course, let him know she was waiting for Mr. Todd, but it would be good to have been asked just once. To be able to let Todd know she was in demand, that she didn't have to wait forever.

"Go on, boy."

"Will you...will you help me make my wife happy when I marry?"

Poor Toby cursed his own cowardice when Mrs. Lovett stood up and walked away without another word.


End file.
